You Will Reap Your Harvest in Just the Right Time - Daily Hope with Rick Warren - July 19, 2018
You Will Reap Your Harvest in Just the Right Time
By Rick Warren
“Let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up” (Galatians 6:9 NLT).
The Bible tells us that there are seasons in life. Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” (NIV).
Between the then and the now — or the now and the what’s coming next — there is always a delay. This irritates most people: to make a deposit or an investment or a plan and not have it instantly come to fruition.
Fruit ripens slowly. Would you rather eat a vine-ripened tomato or one that has been picked green and then gassed to turn it red? There’s no comparison between a vine-ripened tomato, which was allowed to grow slowly, and a tomato that was picked prematurely. If you pick too soon, you miss the flavor.
In money management, you always reap in a different season than you sow. And by the way, not all fruit ripens at the same time. When you grow peaches, they’re not all ripe at once. They come in little by little; you pick a few a day. When you start planting and following God’s money management principles, you’re not going to get a windfall tomorrow. It’s going to come in over time. You’re going to have to wait to reap in a different season.
But while you’re waiting, God is working. When you’re waiting for the fulfillment of the efforts or money or energy that you’ve put into something, you may think nothing’s happening.
Oh, it’s happening! While that seed is hidden in the ground, it is slowly germinating. And when that seed bursts with God’s blessing on it, it will continue growing and growing. One day a little shoot will stick up out of the ground, and then you will see that it’s working.
But until then, you need to trust that God is working — even when you can’t see the fruit of your labor.
Plants take time to grow. There’s no such thing as instant maturity. No farmer goes out, plants the seed in the ground, comes back an hour later, digs it up, and expects it to have grown. You’ve just got to let it be. Leave it covered, and let God grow it in his time.
Galatians 6:9 says, “Let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up” (NLT).
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>
Talk It Over
What have you been waiting on God to bring to fruition in your life?
How have you grown spiritually as a result of having to wait for that harvest? What has God taught you as you’ve been waiting on him?
Why do you think God makes us wait to reap what we sow?
This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!
Building My Life on Values That Last Complete Audio Series
Learn how to make life-changing choices
Each day, you have to make important life choices—How am I going to think, speak, and act?
Many people struggle with making the best choices—because they’re taking their cues from the wrong people and living by values that are at odds with God’s values.
Pastor Rick Warren shares the practical advice you need to make life-giving moral choices in his complete audio series, Building My Life on Values That Last.
You’ll be inspired and empowered with messages that include…
• Choosing My Standards
• Accepting Responsibility
• Developing Trust
• Developing Self-Control
• The Balanced Life
• Showing Respect
• Offering Forgiveness
• Maintaining Moral Purity
• Showing Fairness
The Building My Life on Values That Last complete audio series is available as boxed 9-CD set or by high quality MP3 and it’s our gift to thank you for your donation today to help more people learn, love, and live the Word with Daily Hope. So please request your copy it when you give today.
May this resource help you make life-changing choices and embrace a new future of hope!
This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
You can listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.
